Barrage Combines Base Building with Space Shooting

Interstellar-setting games, for the most part, split into ship-piloting shooters or large-scale base or colony management sims. The upcoming Barrage calls itself an “artillery-RTS” game, but that’s not all there is to this space title.

Tectonic Studios is making a genre-bending game, with multiple gameplay experiences, all in one package. Barrage starts off like an RTS, as the player begins by making the first planet a bit more home-like. Solar plants and geothermal power stations harvest important energy and minerals to produce weaponry. More options become available by advancing in the research tree, which is split into five categories. There’s a variety of tactics to engage in, from colonizing planets and harvesting resources to opting for a more militarized approach.

A defining mark in Barrage is also the ability to take control of a spaceship and engage in first-person combat. This lets players shoot each other’s bases and ships from great distances. Because of that, shots need to be aimed carefully – since there’s also the gravity of nearby planets, stars, and black holes to take into account. The projectiles can even circumvent the solar system and hit the player’s own base from behind.

Tectonic Studios is a team of four people who came together in 2013 to work on Barrage, utilizing Unreal Engine 4. They recently put the game up on Steam Greenlight, asking the community for votes supporting its distribution. As Barrage is still in development, the studio is also welcoming any feedback about their game, and can be reached through Steam or via Twitter and Facebook.